Electronista Rating:

Price: $60 for WU-1b, $50 for PicturePro

The Good

Simple wireless add-on

Reduces need for additional gear

PicturePro provides options for professionals

The Bad

WU-1b drains camera battery

Problematic in congested Wi-Fi areas

We're talking George Jetson here. Nikon's recent introduction of the D600 full-frameDSLR brought a raft of accessories, one of the most interesting being the WU-1bWireless Mobile Adapter. Couple that with David Shield's PicturePro app, (motto:Leave Your Laptop Behind) and an iPad, and you have a new, lightweight solution toshooting and sending photos from wherever you can score a Wi-Fi signal.

Along the way, your laptop may get an inferiority complex.

Adaptable with the Nikon D600, and Nikon1 models J3, S1 and V2, the WU-1b allowsboth raw and JPEG images to be sent from the camera to a smartphone (Androidand iOS) or tablet within seconds of first saving it to the camera's SD card. Able to beused standalone, it's one of the slickest things to appear on the photographicaccessory scene in quite a while, but is it too little, too soon, or just the thing forbusy photojournalists and Facebookers alike?

Read on as Electronista gives the WU-1b and PicturePro app a workout in thereal world of automotive photojournalism.

Covering the New York International Auto Show at the Jacob Javits Center is one ofthose out-of-the-frying-pan, into-the-fire situations that have you jostling for position,bumping shoulders, bruising egos, and still a time to be aware of your surroundingsand gear, lest they decide to grow legs and disappear from the middle of the showfloor.

The Nikon WU1b ($59.95) and an iPad equipped with PicturePro ($49.95, App Store) frees upthe need to haul a laptop along during assignments or photo excursions. Workingwithin its own Wi-Fi network, the WU1b will pair with a downloaded Nikon App,inelegantly named the "Wireless Mobile Adapter Utility." Adaptable to smartphonesor tablets, it can be used to control the linked camera and take, view or downloadphotos. From the device, images can then be uploaded to social media sites or servers.We have wondered why Nikon did not choose a simple name like "Nikon Connect,"or something along those lines. The App is available on iTunes and Google Play, atno charge.

Connection is easy enough on the D600. With the camera turned off, the WU-1b isplugged into the mini-USB port that is covered by a hatch on the left-hand side of thecamera. Turn the camera back on and a green light goes through its status checkswhile, in this case, our iPad recognized the Nikon WU network under its Wi-Fi menu.

Once the camera is connected, its battery level and other controls are seen underthe settings (gear icon) menu. Moving a step back, the app allows you to controlthe camera from the device or directly by the camera's normal live-view controls,although exposure and settings are not adjustable. In shooting mode, the camera'splayback monitor is disabled while a status bar shows up on the iPad detailing thedownload in progress. The range of the Wi-Fi connection, under optimal conditions,is said to be up to 49 feet.

Normally, images can be viewed and forwarded from the Nikon Mobile Utility Appor the Camera Roll section of the iPad or smartphone, and subsequently shared toFacebook, Tumblr and so on. In the case of a working professional, it is sometimesnecessary to upload to company servers, such as the wire service servers likeBloomberg News, the Associated Press or smaller company ports. That's wherePicturePro comes in. The brainchild of news photographer David Shields, it allowscropping, color and exposure correction, editing and captioning, according to wireservice protocol to be performed using tablets from the iPad 2 forward.

Preset captioning templates are stored and conveniently recalled for batchprocessing, which comes in handy when there are many photos from the same basicevent. In this manner, the basic caption remains, while information such as subjectnames are added for further identification.

FTP and e-mail profiles can also be stored so web addresses for multiple clients canbe accessed for instant recall. Once completely captioned, the images can be queuedfor transmission, via e-mail or FTP, to a waiting editor on the receiving end.

For the most part, the systems both work and when they are at the top of theirgame, they work extremely well. We felt as though the WU-1b would occasionallyact up like a spoiled child who won't play well with others. In the case of the JavitsCenter, there were over 40 individual wireless networks vying for the affections ofour iPad's Wi-Fi system. With the WU-1b drawing all of its power from the NikonD600's ENEL15 batteries, it was pulling less amperage than if it were self-powered.Acting as a slave, it managed to cut the camera's lithium ion battery supply by nearly60 percent, to approximately 285 exposures, down from a more respectable 850images per charge. The end result of that was a situation that saw continual signalcessation from the camera, causing the WU-1b's own internal Wi-Fi network to dropoff the screen of the iPad. Our work around involved us leaving the actual Javitsdisplay floor to seek quieter spots in the lobby of the building where the imagestransferred without a hitch. In View Photos mode, the Nikon App allowed us tobrowse images from the camera on the screen of the iPad and then download onlythose we selected as part of our final edit. That's a real time saver, if you ask us.

If we were in a deadline position, we would have picked up the Apple CameraConnection Kit that allows a hard wire connection from the camera to the iPad.Regardless, it's a good thing to have stashed away in the bottom of your camera bag.

Once in the camera roll section of the iPad, it was a quick process to find the mostrecent downloads for final tweaks and captioning before transmitting. From therewe could adjust brightness, cropping, exposure, contrast, color temperature,shadows and highlights, as well as check with a "loupe" for overall sharpness. Oncewe performed our modifications, the images were saved and then wecaptioned them as a group for transmission to the Leftlanenews.com servers for uploading.

At the end of the day, and despite the problems with multiple Wi-Fi networks in alarge convention center, we still managed to complete our job with less gear, lessbackache and in less time than many of our colleagues. Between Nikon's WU-1b andPicturePro, the iPad steps beyond that of a mere movie viewer or eReader to atruly functional piece of equipment for News and Studio Photographers, as well asserious photo enthusiasts.